


Pragmatic Romantic

by rhiannonhero



Category: As the World Turns
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-21
Updated: 2010-10-21
Packaged: 2017-10-13 02:20:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/131755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhiannonhero/pseuds/rhiannonhero
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Thank you to <a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_alicesprings/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://users.livejournal.com/_alicesprings/"><strong>_alicesprings</strong></a>, <a href="http://amelialourdes.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://amelialourdes.livejournal.com/"><strong>amelialourdes</strong></a>, and <a href="http://peggin.livejournal.com/profile"><img/></a><a href="http://peggin.livejournal.com/"><strong>peggin</strong></a> for the super beta!  :)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Pragmatic Romantic

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to [](http://users.livejournal.com/_alicesprings/profile)[**_alicesprings**](http://users.livejournal.com/_alicesprings/), [](http://amelialourdes.livejournal.com/profile)[**amelialourdes**](http://amelialourdes.livejournal.com/), and [](http://peggin.livejournal.com/profile)[**peggin**](http://peggin.livejournal.com/) for the super beta! :)

  
Metro was packed but when Reid walked in he was immediately greeted with a, "Hello, Dr. Oliver, your table is almost ready. It will be just a moment, sir." It was nice to have that kind of service, but he knew that he didn't owe it to his own prestige but to Luke, who had, undoubtedly, made reservations and requested the cozy table in the corner that was currently being prepped.

"Dr. Oliver!" a voice called out from across the room. Reid recognized it immediately, and a small, close-lipped smile touched his lips.

Bob and Kim Hughes were seated at a table and Reid walked toward them, his hands jammed into his suit pockets. Neither of them had been served their dinner yet, and both were swilling wine like they didn't have a reason to be up in the morning. And, Reid supposed that ever since Bob had retired and Kim had cut back her hours at the station, they didn't.

"Dr. Hughes, Mrs. Hughes," Reid greeted, inclining his head a little.

"I'm surprised to see you here," Bob said. "As the new co-Chief of Staff, I'd think you'd have plenty to keep you busy on a weeknight, Dr. Oliver."

"Oh, yes, papers to push, forms to sign, doctors to berate. It's endless," Reid agreed.

"Yes, Chris says you keep such a close eye on him that he feels more like a kindergartener being allowed to use scissors for the first time, than your partner," Kim said pointedly.

Reid smirked and shrugged. "Well, Doogie can handle it for one night. If the idiots on the board think he's up for the position, then I should let him give it a good college try once in awhile, don't you agree?"

Kim lifted her brows and took a sip of her wine, a small smile of mixed annoyance and amusement on her face. Reid enjoyed that she couldn't quite let go of her resentment of him, and yet she was undeniably softening toward him. It was just the mix of feelings he wanted to inspire in the mother of Doogie Hughes.

"Will Luke be joining you?" Bob asked, lifting up the menu, and handing it off to a passing waiter.

Reid nodded. "Yep, should be here," he glanced at his watch. "Any minute. He's late."

"Probably trying to look his best for your date," Kim said, chuckling.

Reid narrowed his eyes at her. "He might be easy on the eyes, but he's not a _girl_."

Kim lifted her hands up in gentle surrender and looked down at her bread plate.

Reid grumbled. "He's probably hung up with some family member or another. Another day, another crisis."

He looked at his watch again, and fought the annoyance that Luke's family was probably to blame for the loss of precious minutes with Luke. Since he'd become Chief of Staff, or, well, _co_ -Chief, as stupid as that was, things had been incredibly busy, and the time with Luke limited. Reid wasn't in the mood to share tonight.

"Well, why don't you have a seat?" Bob said. "You and Luke could join us."

"Yes," Kim agreed. "We haven't even ordered our dinner and we'd enjoy the company."

Reid suspected she was being generous, but it was a moot point. "No. Luke's planned…it's a romantic date, and, as you probably guessed, I'm not good at those. I need to…focus so I don't mess it up."

Kim looked like she was going to laugh, but she politely covered her mouth with her napkin.

"What's the occasion?" Bob asked.

"I…uh," Reid grimaced. "Don't really know. We haven't had a fight lately, so I think it's our anniversary? Yeah…it must be."

"Well, it's been about two years," Bob said, looking thoughtful, gazing up at the ceiling like he was trying to remember.

Just then Reid felt a hand clap down on his shoulder, and Luke was there, smelling like cologne, looking freshly showered, and completely edible. Reid swallowed, letting his eyes drag over Luke's neck, and up to his lips, wanting to call the whole dinner off and head back to their place.

Luke smiled at him, his eyes blinking slowly, cluing Reid into the fact that Luke knew exactly what Reid was thinking at that moment.

"Bob, Kim," Luke greeted, and then he patted Reid's chest possessively. "It's good to see you both, but I hope you don't mind if I steal Reid here, do you? It's sort of a special night."

Kim smiled and said, "Yes, Reid was just telling us. Two years! Congratulations! I admit I never thought you'd make it, but I've rarely been as pleased to be so wrong."

Luke looked confused, and cocked his head. "Um, _twenty-four_ years, actually," Luke said. "And I'm glad to be alive, too. Thanks?"

Kim covered her mouth and said, "Oh, dear. Forgive me. I must have…" She laughed then and shook her head. Bob pressed his smile into a thin line, and didn't meet Reid's eye.

"So…not our anniversary," Reid said, clapping his hands together.

Luke laughed. "No, jerk. It's my birthday."

Reid groaned and rolled his eyes. He was pretty sure he'd screwed this 'romantic evening' up already. He was so bad at this kind of thing.

"Happy birthday!" Kim exclaimed.

Bob lifted his glass and said, "Many happy returns!"

Reid felt Luke's arm grip around his shoulders harder, and Reid said, "I thought your birthday was in March."

Luke sighed. "It's in May, Reid. It's today."

"Are you sure?" Reid asked. "I have a photographic memory. It's on my calendar for March."

Luke rolled his eyes. "Then it's on your calendar wrong. I know my own birthday."

"So, you arranged your own celebration, dear?" Kim asked, giving Reid a look that made him feel like he was five years old and being scolded by his teacher for drawing penises instead of doing his classwork.

"Yep," Luke said. "I blocked out Reid's calendar for tonight a month ago, arranged for Chris to be on call tonight, and made the dinner plans." He sounded quite pleased with himself.

"That's very…accommodating of you," Kim said. "Not very romantic, though, is it?"

Luke shrugged. "Sure it is. Love should be pragmatic."

Reid swiveled his head to stare at Luke, the words hitting him as incredibly wrong, alien, even, coming from Luke's mouth.

Luke squeezed Reid's shoulder again, and smiled. "Come on. Let's eat."

Bob and Kim were giving each other looks across the table and Reid waved as he followed Luke to the corner table that had been exquisitely prepared. He shot them a look of despair and they both started to chortle and laugh at him. Truly they were cruel people. He shouldn't be surprised given the selfish son-of-a-bitch that Doogie had turned out to be.

"So," Luke said. "Do you want to order wine?"

Reid stared at Luke, hearing the words 'love should be pragmatic' echoing in his mind.

"Reid?" Luke asked.

Yes, for _Reid_ love should be pragmatic. For Reid love was buying Luke's favorite chocolate bar at the store when he was picking up his own snacks, or making sure that Luke's coffee was made and ready for him before Reid left for the hospital in the morning, or leaving the last doughnut, or making an extra sandwich.

For Luke, love should be romantic, ridiculous, sweeping, trembling, tremulous, and wild. For Luke, love was a picnic dinner under the stars by the pond, or a surprise race across a pasture under a full moon to collapse on the ground kissing and rutting together in desperation, or candles and a fire with slow, sweet, drawn-out love-making on the carefully arranged pillows on the floor. For _Luke_ love was not and should never be _pragmatic_.

"Earth to Reid?"

Reid jolted back to the here and now, and he focused on Luke, nodding his head, and saying, "Sorry. Just thinking about…something. I'm sorry. You were saying?"

"Wine?" Luke asked. "Do you want to order any? It's my birthday. You should drink and be merry." He waggled his brows. "The easier to seduce you later when we get home."

"Sure," Reid said.

He didn't really want a drink, but he knew that Luke liked it when he had a glass or two. He wasn't sure why, but he thought it had to do with Luke not being able to have any himself, and that seeing Reid indulge made him feel vicariously celebratory. Luke almost always insisted that Reid drink something on special occasions, like Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and Reid's own birthday.

Luke smiled and waved the waiter over. "Dr. Oliver would like to order a drink now."

Reid placed his order, carefully keeping his focus on Luke, who deserved to feel every bit as loved and wanted as Reid found him to be, and he worked on the problem in the back of his head, coming to the conclusion that if his love was pragmatic, concerned with being useful in practice and not just in theory, then there was another dimension to that which he'd never considered: Luke's happiness was the most useful thing in the world to him. It was required in every way to further Reid's own happiness and sense of satisfaction. And, so, yes, something would have to be done about that.

::::

  
Luke didn't know what the hell was going on. He'd come home to find Reid waiting for him, bags packed, coat in hand, and a very odd attitude.

"Come on, we're late," Reid said.

"For -- ?" Luke asked, confused.

Reid had rolled his eyes, huffed, and turned him around, steering him back out the door that he'd just come home through.

"Reid?"

Reid manhandled him out into the hallway, locked their apartment door, and then kissed Luke on the lips. It was a rough kiss, distracting, and hot, and Luke was still reeling from it when Reid pulled back, and started hustling him down the hallway toward the elevator to the parking garage.

"Wait," Luke said. "I don't understand. Where are we going?"

"Away," Reid said.

"Well…I, uh, yeah," and he gestured toward the bags that Reid was pulling along behind him. "I guessed that. But, um, Reid, _where_ are we going?"

Reid kissed him again, and Luke shook himself out of the kiss, thinking that he was in some kind of weird alternate reality, possibly a dream, or maybe he was in the midst of a hallucination? Was his kidney failing and he was having a very realistic delusion?

He shifted his eyes from one side and the other, trying to see if anything besides Reid was acting oddly, but everything was just the same as ever. He was wearing the same clothes, the elevator was working as it should, and that was definitely the smell of Mrs. Peterson's cabbage seeping through the hallways. Reid hated that.

"Uh, seriously, Reid. This is freaking me out," Luke said. "What's going on? Is everything all right? Did someone _die_?"

Reid rolled his eyes. "For Pete's sake, you've clearly been around me too much."

"What? What does that mean?"

"It _means_ that I'm trying to do something _romantic_ and you're messing it up," Reid said.

Luke was even more confused. He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed a laugh. "Romantic? You? You're trying to be _romantic_? So…what? We're going to…Boston? For a neurosurgery conference?"

Reid groaned. "No, jackass. Just wait and see."

"Jackass. That's romantic. I feel really tender and sweet now."

Reid sighed, rubbed the bridge of his nose, and said, "You won't get it out of me. So stop trying. It's a _surprise_ , Mr. Snyder. I thought you liked those? So relax and enjoy it."

The elevator opened and Luke followed Reid into the parking garage, and toward their car.

As he got in, he said, "I _do_ like them. You, though? You hate them. What was it you said about surprises—"

Reid started the car, looked into the rear-view mirror, and began to back out of the space. "I'm an asshole. Why do you listen to anything I say?"

Luke chuckled. "Oh-ho, I see. Okay, fine." He leaned back into the seat, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Good," Reid said. "Now enjoy your damn surprise."

When they pulled into the airport and headed toward the hangars for the private jets, Luke said, "Are you serious? This surprise involves the jet?"

"Shh," Reid said. "Questions will get you spankings later."

"Oh, _no_ ," Luke said. "I'm terrified now."

"As well you should be," Reid said. "I brought the paddle."

Luke's eyes went wide and he clomped his jaw shut and said nothing more until they were seated on the plane. "Seriously, you're not going to tell me anything at all?"

Reid popped open the sparkling water and poured a glass for Luke and a glass for himself. "Nope."

Luke started to take a sip, but Reid said, "Ah-ah-ah, Mr. Snyder. A toast."

"Really?" Luke started to laugh. "Who the heck are you and what have you done with my boyfriend? You know the one – about your height, surly, thinks romance is for losers?"

Reid shrugged. "Left that asshole at the hospital. Figured you wouldn't miss him for a few days."

Luke blinked slowly, and his smile was tender and sweetly amused. "Actually, I kind of love him."

"What's not to love?" Reid agreed. "So, a toast. To the pragmatism of romance."

Luke sputtered. "What?"

"Just drink," Reid said. "We've got a few hours before we get there. I packed your iPad and loaded that new novel you mentioned that you wanted. That stupid crime thing."

Luke sat back and sipped his sparkling water, clicked on the iPad, and started reading the novel that Reid had downloaded for him. Or he tried to. Instead, he kept sneaking glances at Reid who was reading medical journals and rolling his eyes at whatever he found there. It was adorable, and after a few fruitless minutes of pretending to read, Luke put aside the iPad and unbuckled his seat belt. He launched himself onto Reid, pushed Reid's journals aside, and started kissing his neck, his jawline, his mouth.

"I love you," Luke said.

"Excellent," Reid said. "Now, get your mouth where it should be."

Luke laughed and pulled open Reid's pants, kneeling between his legs, humming happily and sucking hard.

Reid rolled his head back and forth on the seat and said, "Romance definitely pays good dividends."

Luke laughed softly and went back to work. Reid didn't need to pull him out of their life, whisk him away on the jet to who knows where to get a blow job. But somehow it did make it all even better.

::::

Reid stood with his arms around Luke's waist, watching the ocean toss and twist below them. The balcony was private and looked out on a private beach as well. Luke was wearing just his boxers, and his hair was tossed in the wind. He smelled like the ocean, sunshine, sand, and sex. Reid thought this might be the best idea he'd ever had in his life.

"Reid," Luke said softly, turning to gaze into Reid's eyes.

"Mm-hmm," Reid murmured, tired, content, and feeling almost boneless after two marathon sessions of sex.

"I know that you love me. You didn't have to do all this."

Reid's lips curved up gently, and he closed his eyes, breathing Luke in. "I know," he said. "I'm still glad I did."

Luke laughed and pulled Reid tight against him. "I'm glad you did, too. Thank you."

"Happy late birthday," Reid said softly.

Luke kissed him and nuzzled his neck.

"Just promise me you'll never say that love is pragmatic ever again," Reid murmured, running his fingers into Luke's hand.

Luke snorted softly and said, "Is that what this is about? Now I'll say it every day if this is what I get."

Reid pulled back, gazed into Luke's eyes, and kissed him again. "No need. Lesson learned," Reid said.

Luke's eyes softened and they kissed as the sun set all pink, orange, and red on the ocean. Reid thought it was all incredibly romantic in the most stupidly pragmatic way.

  
THE END


End file.
